VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA-The Peacemaker, The Silent Saboteurs, The X Factor, The Machines Strike Back!, The Monster F

1978--Seaview with 8 windows is under the ice with 80 fathoms from keel to bottom and at 176 longitude and 80 Latitude, 25 miles from a detonation of an enemy weapon. When they find open water, Crane calls Nelson to the conning tower and the ship rises up, shooting from the open water, nose first. It is cold and desolate and they see this on the periscope. Intelligence was told of the enemy test--which is of a weapon smaller than a milk box--thus not a large explosion is expected. Nelson and Crane wear goggles in the conning tower...and a gigantic, unexpected massive explosion rocks them and the ship!

Act One

Admiral Phil Connors (Whit Bissel) calls Nelson, calling him Harry. The device is 12 to 16 inches high, 4 inches in diameter. Nelson fears it is a proton bomb which can blow up three fourths of the world. An Oriental Premier thanks Everett Lang, defector and builder of this new bomb. Lang wants lasting peace but the Premier tells of his peace: peace only on his terms. He leaves and has his guards shoot down all three scientist in cold blood. Lang somehow survives (an armored vest?) and drags himself to a radio. Lang was a nuclear physicist who went behind the Bamboo Curtain. He has contacted spies in Chougi and wants clemency and safety. In 18 hundred hours they will make contact. Lang is helped to a spot where spies are that will help him get out of this Oriental country. He and another man fight searching police. Lang strangles one. They call Connors and use code, "The fish is in the net."Lang asked for Seaview. Crane, thinking it might be a trick to get Seaview into their waters, suggests he go in and bring Lang out and rendezvous at a place Crane himself picks. Night--the Flying Sub piloted by Nelson flies over the area. Crane parachutes out of the floor hatch exit and onto a plowed field. A poor crippled beggar moves himself on a wheeled cart. He wears a large hat---it is Crane who plays mute when what appear to be police arrive. The police don't care if he cannot talk--they pick him up and put him in the back of a police van...and drive off.

Act Two

The police bring Crane to the hideout of spies...they are the resistance movement. Among them are a male and a female. The woman is named Su Yin. Crane has to get feeling back in his legs. He won't shake hands with Lang. The bomb is at the bottom of the sea off the coast and placed so that it will destroy other countries. Seaview will have to stay out of this country's territorial waters but meet the junk that will carry Lang, Su Yin, and Crane via a terrible smuggler. The threesome row in a small boat to the junk. The smuggler wants one thousand Hong Kong dollars--which is 180 U.S. dollars. Lang complains he is worth more. There are lots of junks in the harbor but soon a patrol boat chases their junk. They can't risk heading them into Seaview or allow the U.S. to be involved. Cannons fire. Crane asks Lang's help in setting up a return fire machine gun but a blast knocks them all down. Su Yin dies telling them to go--the smuggler will turn Crane in. Crane gives her one last look and leaves at Lang's pleading. Another shell blows up the entire junk.

Act Three

Crane finds Lang on a piece of wood drifting in the ocean..part of the junk. Seaview is on the surface. Nelson looks in the scope but it is Chip who sees them. Sharkey gets a diving party to get them in. Seaview surfaces (?). Lang tells them to deactivate the bomb protection devices, bring up the bomb to Seaview, and then deactivate the bomb itself. Lang tells them all the world should disarm, including the U.S. President. 400 miles out, 500 miles down. Lang briefs Nelson: if the bomb goes off 100 more miles east--no place on Earth will be safe. He thought the weaker powered Premier would make all disarm. Nelson calls him stupid, "Not one man, not one nation should have control over the Earth!"The bomb has heat seeking torpedoes, anti metal paint over the diving gear will help avoid the metal sensors. Lang and Nelson go to the bomb and avoid the TV sensor mines which are 150 yards around the bomb set up. A high frequency sound to repel fish goes off. Electric eyes can set off mines. Lang uses a mirror to deflect the eyes. Nelson catches falling wrench tool Lang accidentally dropped. He takes a unit out Lang opened up and deactivates the mines and sensors. Crane has Sharkeysend down a cable and they bring the bomb up to the missile room on Seaview. Lang cuts a remote triggering device, "Now, no one can detonate this bomb...but me..This makes me the most powerful man in the world."The bomb is now hooked to his control. The World Disarm Congress, working to disarm will get some peace. Lang wants them to do it now and orders them to move Seaview 100 miles east--which will destroy the whole world if the bomb goes off there. Lang orders Sharkey to get him a chair. Nelson tells Connors: they must pretend to go along. Men bring Lang a vidscreen where the World Disarmament Chairman tells him they have considered his demands and made him President of the Congress and will abide by his rulings. Seaview is now the capital of the world and man's destiny will be Lang's to shape.

Act Four

Lang tells them they have 24 hours to disarm. Nelson explains everybody prays for disarmament and for an end to war but they cannot put other countries at risk. Lang talks of the language of power. Sharkey talks to Riley, who is guarding Lang's door to the missile room. Sharkey tells him Lang won't do it--he really wants someone to talk him out of it. Riley tells him about a guy thatwanted to jump...and did. Sharkey enlists Riley's help to go in and jump Lang. Before they can, Chip orders Riley to stop and has to physically push Sharkey against the wall, threatening him with arrest if he pulls anything like this again. Chip says, "We'd all like to get our hands around Lang's throat but this isn't the way."

In his room, Nelson tells Crane just the opposite--they have to make him push the button. The ignition rod has to burn through to the detonator---this will give them a few minutes to try to disarm it. Crane calls Riley to corridor four. Crane and Nelson go in to Lang. Nelson tells him they rejected Lang's ideas. Crane attacks Lang, who pushes the button. Alarms go off and the others-Riley, Chip, and Sharkey come in. Nelson works to stop the bomb, blocking the ignition firing rod with a slate with 3 seconds to spare. Nelson says, "If the rod doesn't burn through, we'll be okay."The rod seems to burn through and there is a large burst.

Tag

Nelson takes the proton cylinders out of the device, they gut the bomb and launch it out the diving tube hatch. They survive the detonation with only some damage to the joints. They will not be able to travel back to port below the surface until repairs are made. Nelson wonders about Lang--he wanted to destroy the world to save it. He hopes they put Lang on trial and put him away not for his motives but for his methods. Crane smiles, "Peace but not at any price."Nelson says, "Exactly."

REVIEW: Great story, fantastic acting from Cassavetes and Basehart, good morale, and nice overall pace--acts one, two, three, and four seem so very different from each other and fast paced, that it is difficult to lose interest. It's very easy not to like Lang--his callous attitude to the girl's death and his self centered pompousness as well as the fact that he collaborated with the enemy makes it difficult to sympathize with him. Yet this is what the cast and crew were going for rather than Robur the Conqueror from MASTER OF THE WORLD and Capt. Nemo from 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, both of whom possessed some fine attributes. Lang's plan to totally disarm is commendable but unfortunately not viable, even today.

THE SILENT SABOTEURS

Writer-Sydney Marshall, Max Erlich

Dir-Sobey Martin

Music-Lenny Hayton (new music); there is some older music from JONAH AND THE WHALE and THE CYBORG but the new stuff is atmospheric and also has several variations on tunes from JONAH and THE CYBORG.

Teaser

1976: the Arturus 3 space probe is returning from Venus. Seaview is its checkpoint. One of the astronauts calls Crane, "Nice to talk to someone from Earth again."(HOLD ON HERE TIME: Isn't the second astronaut sitting next to the man also a human from Earth? Maybe not. He doesn't talk). Or were the two talking to aliens on Venus perhaps? We hear wind sound effects for outer space. Seaview will turn the space probe over to Central Control. The probe rocket hits a forcefield and, although Crane instructs them to use manual guidance, they cannot. The rocket blows apart! (NOTE: The space sequences and the backdrops are all very LOST IN SPACE-SEASON ONE in feel and design and are all quite good).

Act One

An unnamed man on Seaview (possibly the man who is named in the credits as Stevens) is from Space Control. He tells them there is an installation in Southeast Asia that has bled the information from the space rocket before it blew up--the knowledge is now in the enemy camp. He wants Crane to find out what type of weapon the enemy has. Crane uses XR3 gear and in ten minutes, he, Sharkey, and Kowalski will leave in fatigues. If discovered, they will be on their own (shades of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE). An underground resistance fighter, a Major Li Change will meet them. Crane launches what he now calls the Flying Submarine. For one of the first times, we see an outer viewport shot with the yellow metallic sections of the Flying Sub visible and we also hear a variation of the Flying Sub themes from AND FIVE OF US ARE LEFT. They are to meet the underground Major up river. The forcefield hits the Flying Sub or the Flying Sub hits the forcefield. Crane takes it down into the water to avoid it and the sub is near a rock wall. For one of the first and almost only times, we see the first of many of this episode's extreme close ups of the Flying Sub...and a different model, more detailed may have been used. The engines are turned off and the block out shutters over the viewport closed. Sharkey and Ski will wait six hours, plug up any problems on the Flying Sub, and contact Sea Dog--Chip--on the G Frequency. We get the first of many very good interior looks at the Flying Sub--all the walls, the bunk, the back computer devices, storage areas, etc. Crane goes into the jungle and we hear the same jungle sound effects used in DOCTOR DOLITTLE and VOYAGE's own TURN BACK THE CLOCK and Irwin's THE LOST WORLD but this time, VOYAGE with THE SILENT SABOTEURS mixes in other sound effects of tropical birds and monkey cries. Chip beeps the Flying Sub and scrambles with Sharkey. He tells the Chief that Washington DC reported a major (in joke? foreshadowing?) foul up in the underground---Crane in his fatigues now--could be walking into a trap. Ski wants the Chief to warn Crane via a call but that could put the Captain in danger. A nagging and buzzing mosquito bites Crane and he slaps it. Someone aims a rifle at him!

Act Two

Using a silencer, the sniper shoots several times at Crane. Variation of the JONAH themes is heard in this stalking sequence. Sharkey and Ski get a blip of a frogman coming toward the Flying Sub. The code is used--baseball terms--flyball to center field, 9th inning, no hits, no runs, no errors, score card, come in to the dugout--and the voice calling to respond is obviously a female voice so it is no surprise that when the diver comes aboard and removes her diving hood, it is a long haired Asian woman--Major Li Chang, she says. Ski covers her with a rifle. Still being stalked and shot at, Crane rounds on the sniper and jumps him. They fight and Crane chokes him with his rifle but the man, also Asian, gives Crane the baseball codes. Nelson in his full dark uniform minus the hat, talks to Chip on Seaview (which looks kind of bare walled and minus some crew). Nelson is at the NIMR and tells Chip the trio will have to complete the mission--Arcturus 4 is ready to be launched in 12 hours--gee, isn't that smart of our side to launch another probe BEFORE we stop the enemy super weapon!?! Apparently a Blake Halden (Bert Freed kind of wasted as this season's most boring enemy along with his Colonel) is an American computer expert working for "the other side" (not as in POLTERGEIST: THE OTHER SIDE). Halden and the Colonel, in the installation, talk--both kind of boring. The Colonel may be named Lago (as the credits name a Lago). The male Asian tells Crane a traitor opened fire on him and he though Crane was one of the traitors returning to kill him. Crane tells him a nasty habit he has of shooting first and asking questions later. This man claims to be Li Chang. Crane calls Sharkey but Sharkey is not given a moment to explain about the female. Crane signs out right away. Crane and the male swim to the Flying Sub bottom hatch. Crane talks to Chip. The female tells them her name is Moana Yutang (is that a Tang astronaut joke?). She told them she was Li Chang because she did not want Crane's men to shoot her since they did not know her name. She can get them to a safe house in the jungle where resistance fighters can tell them where Halden is camped. Her own company of resistance fighters were killed. She tells Crane to follow the river to its source. As they follow, we see two seats behind the two pilot chairs (also used in THE SKY'S ON FIRE). Chang tells Crane that the sleeping girl looks so innocent but his people have a custom ceremony dance--the ugliest girl is given the prettiest mask. The Flying Sub stops and finds mines floating at them: gold ones with four pointed edges! They watch the mines on the nose camera--Crane calls them homing mines! Sharkey uses the countermagnetic field to ward several off. A few pass very close to the nose point and two blow up above the Flying Sub. More go off. The nose dips and the Flying Sub falls toward the bottom. The back then dips and the nose is upward.

Act Three

The Flying Sub back falls to the bottom. Ski checks the hull, Sharkey the reactor circuits. The second emergency circuits are damaged and it will take him 8 to 10 hours to repair. The dialogue here is a bit low and somewhat forced. The enemy Colonel gets a signal from his agent. Halden tells him the secret of the stars will be there's--they will dominate space--the US will not. The next probe will be blown up also. Moana wears a hat as they move out in the jungle. Lee and the girl talk: she says the stars look different here but are as beautiful as those in the Westwood Camp (or campus)--she was an exchange student at UCLA (oh, so she must be good--anyone, it is implied, that was in the US, must be on the side of good?). She liked the pom pom girls and still wears her campus pin on her sleeve. She returned to help her own country but wonders if what she is doing is right. They hear machine gun fire. Crane takes Chang with him, warning Ski about the girl--she can fool you with talk of the stars and beauty. Major Li and Crane find a dead man that Li claims is a dead underground man--they see more safehouse men dead--the safehouse that the girl was leading them to---they were almost caught in the death trap. Crane worries about Ski. Moana's pin beeps (and at this point we believe she is the enemy agent helping the Colonel). She goes to put her lipstick on--she lies to Ski--it was in her sleeve. She tosses it up, Ski (good soldier he is) drops his rifle and grabs it---and it emits Morpheus gas which knocks him down. Crane gets a reading from Sharkey...a red code. The Chief tells him Major Chang...the real Major Chang was killed two days ago! The phony Major Chang puts his rifle up behind Crane's head amid Sharkey's continued warnings!

Act Four

Chang or the phony Chang steps on the radio. His superiors want to question Crane about his Flying Submarine. Sharkey calls Chip who gives him permission to follow Crane and Ski. Ski wakes up, merely stunned. Guards at a shack open up a small console on a tree--built into it--to stop a forcefield on the shack--which leads down to the installation. It is a cover for the larger complex beneath. The scorched earth around the shack entrance is where the forcefield death area is. Crane moves at the fake Chang...who warns him not to and fires his rifle--it is empty. Crane gave it to him empty. They fight and Crane, unbelievably, knocks the karate man out, then grabs another surprise attacker...the girl Moana. They fight but he stops. She tells him that her pin intercepted the fake Chang's message to the Colonel and she had to stop the fake Change and warn Crane. She gives him a drawing of the complex. One of the dying underground leaders gave it to her---he was her husband. Arturuus 4 is in space. In 7 minutes it will be destroyed by Halden's machine. Colonel has not had a report from Chang in six hours during which time, the commando group (Crane, Moana, Ski, and Sharkey plot) a raid. Moana insists on going with them--she has a score to settle and will provide covering fire for the men. Crane uses the ring from Chang to stop the forcefield and hopes...then walks into the area...shouldn't he have tried it first with a rock or something? Going into the shack, they descend stairs, shoot two guards, two more come down and are also shot by the group. They open a door and then begin to blow off another door which looks like a small cage grid (later larger grids were used in LAND OF THE GIANTS). Kowalski stays in the room to guard the entrance-exit. The other three go through a vent to a small room--the complex is on the other side. Arcturus 4 is in re-entry mode (more beautiful and colorful space images fill the screen as we see this). Ski uses a smoke grenade on more guards but is wounded by a shot from one of them. The others blow the reddish doors to the complex control room, rush in, and put everyone against a wall. Sharkey gives Crane a laser which he uses to take the control panels off. Lee then tosses the rifle into the entire unit just as Arcturus 4 hits the force field. It is saved though by Crane's action. The Colonel runs for the self destruct button but Halden warns the Seaview men and Moana about this and Moana shoots the Colonel down dead. The trio move out. Sharkey points his gun at Halden and the other men in the room---making them stay as the entire complex and shack blows up. En route to the exit, Lee helps Ski outside.

Tag

Crane asks Moana to come with them, mentioning the stars in Westwood but she feels her mission and duty in life is to help freedom here. She waves as the others in swim gear leave for the Flying Sub. We hear AND FIVE OF US ARE LEFT ending music as the Flying Sub is started, Crane calls Seaview to alert them to mission accomplished, and the Flying Sub swims upward, past rocks---with an unidentified light shining against the rock wall behind it--more rocks and then up to the surface to fly into the sky.

THE X FACTOR

Writer-William Welch

Dir-Leonard Horn

Music-Leith Stevens

Teaser

A man kills a limo driver by strangling him outside Nelson Institute. Other men kidnap the passenger-Dr. Randall Liscomb--via van and take him to a Kaber Toys' building. An Indian toy gives a coded message to Kaber--send the doctor to Buenos Ares, Argentina (7-43). A man brings in a lifesize toy soldier. Kaber questions Liscomb about the X Factor-a new weapon. Liscomb tells him to kill him--he won't get him to talk. Kaber has Liscomb strapped to a sliding body table which is propelled into a shaft of light. He will be put through a conversion process and smuggled out of the U.S. There is no pain. Liscomb comes out looking like a dead man or some kind of coated toy! He opens his eyes.

Act One

Seaview is at sea when Nelson gets a message from an agent working for a Captain George Shires, of the Naval Intelligence base at Pearl Harbor. Before the call is finished, someone shoots and kills the agent but not before the killer--Henderson and his boss Kaber overhear Nelson's name. Unfortunately--Kaber says--he will now plan to kill Shires and Nelson. Nelson gets a scrambled message from Shires who feels he can scratch one good agent. We see a shot of the Seaview control room and observation deck from outside the Seaview window. Sharkey and Nelson take the Flying Sub out, 800 miles to Eastern Pearl Harbor-the East Clark sub base landing. While they get Capt. Shires--the Flying Sub, for some reason, is left unattended on the surface. A diver gets to it and cuts the wires, leaving them to explode. Later, Nelson and Sharkey bring Shries to the Flying Sub and lift off from the surface. Shires tells Nelson that Kaber Toys is linked to Congressional Committees and blaming them could cause problems for them both. Suddenly, the controls spark and the Flying Sub heads straight down--its gyro stabilizers out!

Act Two

Sharkey get to the panels, burning his hands slightly as he fixes the gyros. Flying Sub responds and lands in the sea and goes up into Seaview. Shires tells Nelson they must change their plan: he prefers to give an official visit to Kaber. Nelson prefers the element of surprise. Kaber gets upset of learning of their official visit and orders Henderson to do something about their long, dangerous drive (European Headquarters told Kaber to let Nelson and Shires come--and not to arouse suspicions). Seaview surfaces. Nelson, Shires, and a few other officials--or guards go into a limo which pulls out of the sub dock and goes through an opening in the dock's wall. A painter outside the gate marks the car with a big X. The motorcycle escort men are killed by a machine gun firing man from a helicopter which gives chase. Shires is also shot and killed and the limo crashes off a cliffside--the interior catching flames and burning the already shot men. Nelson managed to jump out as the car blew up. He shoots and kills the man on the helicopter--who was now climbing down a ladder to finish Nelson off. The man falls after being shot. Nelson runs up a hillside to be confronted by another man with a machine gun.

Act Three

Crane gets the word about the "accident" and he orders the area closed off. Chip meets Crane in the Admiral's quarters where the Captain tells him to stop Sharkey's and all other shore leaves. Sharkey is upset that Nelson is captured or dead and he tells Riley after Morton tells him. Riley, not getting the idea from Sharkey's mean manner, thinks they were going out on the town to find "chicks" but the Chief yells at him not to make any wisecracks. Nelson confronts Kaber who says, "I sell happiness for young and old alike."Nelson actually manages to question Kaber and get more answers than Kaber gets from him. Nelson calls him, "A very bad liar,"and then, "I'm sure you're insane."Kaber tells Nelson, "I keep you in mind at all times."The car, overturned and burned is found. Shires and the guards' bodies are found. Chip tries to tell this delicately to Lee. Kaber shows Nelson a creepy toy as he explains they do import and export business as well as some model work for the US. A box is brought in and opened--Liscomb dressed as a lifesize toy soldier. Once in the other country he will be revived, a few drugs and brainwashing and he will tell all and eventually work for the enemy. Henderson knocks Nelson down. Liscomb can move his eyes. Sharkey, Riley, and two other men return to Seaview--no sign of Nelson. Sharkey feels he is in that "cockeyed toy factory,"and adds, "Man, would I like to bust in there!"Chip reminds Crane they have no evidence but Crane tells him they cannot wait. Kaber explains the process-a wax like substance covers the subject and his physical functions are arrested but he is aware. Nelson jokes that he accepts all Kaber is telling him and doesn't need to see it done firsthand--to him, "No, no, I accept your statement,"and he tries to walk off. Crane, Sharkey, Riley and another man run around the wall, avoiding the high voltage fence. They see the service entrance and when a truck comes and the driver calls in for the fence to be turned off, Crane hits them and the four steal his truck-van. Nelson is on the table and will be sent to Kaber's country--in time he will prove to be more valuable than Liscomb. Nelson starts to go into the conversion tank.

Act Four

Henderson reports something is wrong; Nelson is stopped from going in and says, "The best laid plans of mice and men."Crane and the others avoid guards in the hothouse but are caught; they are forced to drop their gun belts but Crane uses a high pressure garden hose on one, Sharkey belts the other. The four run out into an open area chased by shooting guards with white hats (which look like they are from the movie FAHRENHEIT 451). The cycle has to be reset before Nelson can be converted. Nelson tells them, "Don't hurry on my account."The four men see where Nelson is but motorcycle guards ride by. They hide behind a car but go down a manhole cover. A tech sees them and calls two others to chase them. They are caught but Sharkey turns a gas pipe and gas shoots up at the techs with the guns. The four climb up to the power station where Riley and Sharkey take care of the monitoring man. Crane shuts down all the power and switches. Nelson's table, once more heading into the shaft of light, stops again. The four men climb back into the underground system. Kaber orders tear gas used and the power put back on soon. The Seaview men attack the area where Nelson is, Crane pushing the table away from the shaft but not being too successful as the power comes back on. Sharkey, guided by the Admiral's instructions, turns the power off. Crane pushes the table back out. Nelson and Riley look for Liscomb. Henderson returns and shots Sharkey, who is wounded but he falls onto the table. Crane shoots Henderson but the evil killer manages to turn the power back on--sending Sharkey in toward the shaft--where Kaber is hiding inside.

Tag

Crane shuts the power off and gets Sharkey away. Kaber has been converted into a toy like man already. The spy ring is broken. Liscomb is fine now and he quoted from a speech from George Washington, "...can take away freedom of speech, and dumb and blind be lead like sheep to the slaughter.

NOTES: The main thing here is the use of the color footage from the color pilot ELEVEN DAYS TO ZERO and the use of the same actor who died in the car...in the pilot he was the original Seaview captain and was killed; here he plays Shires. The footage matches perfectly and is fits well into the story. A bit more violence than usual but the second season was fairly cold blooded and so was the first season. No red blood is shown most of the time. Nelson also makes cracks in the face of death or conversion ala James Bond (GOLDFINGER and THE SPY WHO LOVES ME come to mind). For some reason, most likely copying from the promotional material, a few sources wrongly claim Kaber was called Alexander Corby and also that it was Henderson who swam to the Flying Sub at Pearl Harbor--this is wrong--at least from the aired episode. The promotional material and the end credits on the aired episode name Alexander Corby as the lead played by John McGiver; however everyone in the episode calls him Kaber. Corby would make more sense since he seems to get his orders from a European branch. Kaber told Henderson to contact their Pearl branch and have someone from there do it. One interesting thing is that one view from the inside of the limo Nelson and Co. are in, shows us the driver's point of view as the car leaves the Seaview dock area, a wall opens up, and the car drives up and out to the exit of the Nelson Institute. This may have also been salvaged from the pilot. A good episode, a bit odd, but entertaining. Very, very interesting outdoor sets (probably around and under Fox studios including those drains and fans Angela Cartwright and Bill Mumy talk about in their reminiscence of LOST IN SPACE). Also, the stocky, short stunt man who calls other guards to the manhole cover also plays Seaview crewmen in many episodes before and after this one. (Did he defect?). He was also in one WONDER WOMAN called THE DEADLY DOLPHIN. If you look close, Kaber-Corby goes into the light shaft twice-in long and medium shots.

THE MACHINES STRIKE BACK!

Writer-John and Ward Hawkins

Dir-Nathan Juran (explaining the tremendous action sequences)

Teaser

1976--Seaview's diving bell with Crane and Riley aboard descend to a drone sub (this one numbered 117). Riley sees the aft hatch open up and fire upon the bell with a torpedo. It hits a rock near the bell. The defense mechanisms on the drones aren't supposed to work unless they are going to fire their missiles. The drone is doing just that--it lifts off the bottom with Sharkey unable to deactivate it from Seaview. It rams the bell, hitting it with its nose and then as it passes with its tail. The drone moves up to firing depth and fires the missile out of the sea and into the sky! The diving bell comes up into Seaview. Nelson asks Sharkey to plot its coarse and he does. Ski alerts Nelson in the radio room as Nelson orders Sparks to call Admiral Johnson. The coordinates: New York City.

Act One

Nelson believes they should trace the sub rather than just shoot the propellers off it. Senator Kimberly calls on vidscreen--he is angry. He was always against this plan--the unmanned automated defense system of 112 (hey, wait wasn't the drone that went nuts 117--perhaps they don't start at the number--one) drones. Nelson reminds him that in the three years they have been activated there has been no mistake in any of the drones. (Three years? DOOMSDAY seemed to establish the drones in 1973 so three years would be just about right to this episode--1976). Upper New York was hit by a miracle--forests were blazed away and three forest rangers were killed (unlike publicity material and other books that claimed no life was lost--a cover up?). The US Allies have been called for help. Johnson tells Nelson Admiral Halder knows as much as anyone about the drones except for Harry himself. Halder is with Allied East Command and is also called East Command's Vice Admiral Halder. He tells Harry not to be so formal with him--they are old friends--and Harry should call him Alex (his first name). He says he tried to stop the drone from his base. His government will help in any way. Halder wants a beam (?) from Seaview to locate them, refusing the Flying Sub to pick him up. He has his own transport (we never find out what). Halder feeds a new species of fish in a tank, telling his men he likes Seaview, but also tells them that they should continue controlling the drones! Crane briefs two divers--Murphy and Jones--who will go out to the drone. Halder has his female aide, Captain Verna Tabor (or Trober) call his undersea lab where he is controlling the drones. She explains about the divers, calling them frogmen. Soon, she gives Sparks a reel to reel type tape to send and it squeals loudly. Just after, the drone alarms go off--it will self destruct! One of the divers calls--the inspection hatch is...he is cut off as the blasts hit! Seaview shakes wildly!

Act Two

Murphy and Jones don't answer---are probably dead. The drone sinks but the tell tale is intact. It is a device which records all command signals given to it and will explain more about why the drone went renegade. Halder tells them they must retrieve it before moisture condensation makes it useless. He wants to go back to his base to work on how to stop the other rogue drones. Kimberly calls Nelson on the radio and squawks so much, that Harry has to make faces and move the receiver away from his ear in comical fashion. The drone telltale is encountering some bottom drift. Sparks sends a second tape for Verna and claims something is wrong with the tape...she responds with, "Or your equipment..."in snooty fashion. Three other drones--numbered 41, 63, and 89 moved off also! From the door into the back of the control room, Verna listens to the men. Drones move North by Northwest: target: USA. The missile firing systems were designed to not be stopped from without. Seaview follows Drone 41, can block out all command signals from outside using a forcefield, then block out the defense system. Ski helps Sparks set up the sound blocking on the radio shack area and to check the equipment. Crane wants to go to the drone but Nelson tells him he wants him commanding Seaview--it will need expert piloting and maneuvering. The Continental Defense aircraft will have to shoot down the other two drones' missiles (nuclear missiles?). Seaview intercepts two missiles from the drone 41. Crane warns Nelson about the third and that he may be killed. They use the radio jamming forcefield. Nelson says, "Keep it that way and I'll be as safe as if I'm home in bed."To upset the forcefield and cause soundwaves, Verna pulls a stabilizer switch which rocks Seaview badly! Crane fears Nelson will be killed.

Act Three

Crane orders Scott and Ron to secure a panel. Nelson in the drone finds the tell tale. Sparks sends another message from Verna after securing the forcefield jamming. Nelson, back on Seaview, tells Crane that Halder has a Mark 1-10 that can decode the tell tale in ten minutes. Just then, Drone 41 self destructs--meant for Nelson. Chip flies Nelson to the Halder sealab and flies back. Halder tells Nelson, as the Admiral comes in, that it is he directing the drones to attack. Nelson chokes him and Halder's men have to subdue him and hit him down. Nelson is put in a storage room (which looks a lot like the room Crane was held in--in KILLERS OF THE DEEP). Halder visits him and tells him it is not his country which is directing the attack--it is him alone. He is the leader of a revolutionary movement and when his people see his power, they will rally to his cause--otherwise, he'd use the missiles on his own people. Halder sabotaged the drones years ago when he and Harry worked on building them together. Crane calls Halder on scrambler. Halder tells Lee that Nelson already left. Sparks tells Crane about Verna's squealing tapes. Sparks rerecorded them 20 or 30 times. They are code groups. Halder seems to be recording a message for his people or relaying it live: if they do not support him, he will use his power on them. In a short while, they will be able to see the effects of his weapons on Philadelphia, Washington DC, and the New York areas--they will explode in flames in three hours. Only he, he demands, can govern them. 12 drones head for the Atlantic city seaboard. Halder wants Verna back to his base. Riley eyes up her legs as she descends the circle ladder to the nose. Crane takes her back in the Flying Sub and accompanies her inside. Halder smiles, "Ahh, another mouse walks into the trap. Stand very still, captain."

Act Four

Halder slaps Crane for calling him a traitor and then has him thrown in with the Admiral, who is mad at Lee for falling into the same trap by coming here willingly. Crane figures the only way they can stop the drones is from the inside: in his jacket he has tools. The transmitter is on the other side of the wall of the storage room they are in (conveniently). Sharkey wants to call East Command, irritated with this cock and bull eyed order not to. Chip asks Sharkey if the Chief wants to make an issue of it---it is Crane's order. Sharkey declines. Crane's tools are used to send a pipe through the wall and he sends gas through the pipe. The gas knocks out the guards and the controllers. Crane uses a tool to torch the wall to make an entrance in. They will have to wait a bit before the vents clear the gas. Seaview: the others watch the clock in what seems like filler material. Nelson and Crane find the controls but Nelson discovers there must be dozens of transmitting rooms. Only the attacking drones are controlled from the room they are in. Nelson will use drone 33 to attack the sealab base. He blows the controls to keep the drone on coarse to the sealab. Halder orders Nelson and Crane killed and sends men after them. Nelson tells Crane, "Stand by to repel boarders."They use a gas bomb on the men who open the door; then they run down corridors (these look just like the Seaview hallways). Nelson and Crane are also wearing gas mask devices (did Crane have all this on him? Why wasn't the searched?). Despite eluding men, the pair are then surrounded on either side by men pointing guns.

Tag

The men order Crane and Nelson to put their guns down. When the men go to take the guns, Crane and Nelson fight them, take the guns and run. Men (techs) abandon their posts in the main room and guards shoot them dead. Crane comes and shoots the guards dead. They run to the open escape hatch door; Halder shoots at them but Nelson blocks his bullets with the door. Crane, already in the hatch, peeks out and shoots Halder in the shoulder. This allows Nelson to get away with him. The Flying Sub lifts off the sealab top. Verna tries to tell Halder the drone is coming but it is too late. The base is blown up as the drone speeds into it. All the other drones return to control. Johnson and Kimberly are talking to Nelson and Crane via Vidphone. The UN will deal with the men who planned this attack...but not with one of them--justice has already been done to him, Nelson says. Nelson feels that one always wonders why a brilliant man like Halder would do something like this. Reparations will be paid through the UN. Johnson tells Nelson, "Keep up the good work, Harry."

REVIEW: Great episode. It is difficult not to want to side with the ideas that Senator Kimberly states---atomic weapons and missiles as a deterrent to war ? While I am not about to try to solve that debate, which has good points to both sides, Kimberly is so irritating in his diatribe against Nelson and the missile idea, one tends to dismiss his anger and arguments--which are really justified.

THE MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE

Writer-William Reed Woodfield

Dir-James Clark

Teaser

A space probe is returning from Saturn with something on it. This is picked up as being alive. Forced penetration reentry, Space Command figures, will kill it. The man in command calls someone named Wilson (Mark? or relative?). Seaview will recover the rocketship but the capsule comes down and sinks since its floatation device won't work. It sinks to the floor of the ocean--the life form still alive! (NOTE: Sparks in not in the radio shack--there is some older man with white hair.)

Act One

New interior angles in the Control Room give us never before seen views of the ceiling. Crane and two divers in gear, swim out to the capsule and moving in, see the growth moving...alive. A crewman attacks it with a speargun and it wraps him up. Crane frees him with his speargun. Nelson sends down torches on the cable hook (NOTE: the surface appears to be only a few feet above the capsule). The growth roars but then vanishes. Crane thinks it melted. They attach the cable and bring it up into Seaview's lower hatch and in. Nelson orders the capsule covered in acid foam and ultraviolet light and calls Sparks to notify Space Center. Crane is wearing his puke green sweater for some reason. Men in protective suits decontaminate the capsule and get the instrument package out. Sharkey lets the self admitted butterfingers Riley hold it, then takes it and gives it to a crewman he calls "Mack" but this is probably more of nickname or phrase Sharkey uses to call others also (such as Frank in AND FIVE OF US ARE LEFT). Nelson and Sharkey take the instrument pack in the Flying Sub toward the carrier. After the Flying Sub leaves, Chip, interestingly enough, calls Mr. O'Brien (who was a semi regular in the first season) to take Seaview to the surface and secure the missile room. Ski does this but the growth rises out of the capsule like a blob.

Act Two

Sparks calls the Huron carrier as the Flying Sub must use the new fog cutter to see their route to landing on the scanner screen on the console. The others on Seaview see the Flying Sub view on the Seaview scanner. Nelson lands nicely in the fogged in Carrier with a mere bump. He looks at a slide of the form of life--it is not a nitrogen cycle organism. It shows signs of self regeneration, an ability to shrink and grow and it has some kind of central nervous system. In Seaview's Missile Room, the thing blobs out, shocks Riley into inactivity, engulfs him, then lets him go a shivering wreck on the deck. He recovers, with two red marks on his neck, then leads Kowalski and two others (who didn't hear all that noise during Riley's attack!) to it. Riley watches unnerved as it engulfs all three. Later, Ski feels okay, then has to get Mr. Morton to go through it. He lures Chip to it. An older man is in the radio shack again. Crane calls Nelson who tells him to rendezvous with the carrier. Crane gives Riley orders but the boy ignores him and merely stares at him. He will wait for Morton; Chip scolds Riley in front of Crane and privately. He wants Doc (the Wayne Hefley Doc) to be part of them. But Chip finds Doc is already taken over. Seaview is on the surface--effective shot of a big and darker Seaview model. Crane gets ready for sleep. Doc tells him Riley is fine, just stressed. Crane takes out a gun after Doc leaves, Doc being a bit strange himself this night. Crane sleeps but the giant blob knocks down his door and comes at him. He fires a gun into it but it engulfs him and he fights against it but is taken in!

Act Three

Seaview is underwater. Crane almost died from struggling so violently. Doc tells Chip this. The crash doors open to the nose and they see the blob in its full form there. It shrinks to invisibility. Seaview heads at Santa Barbara. Nelson and Sharkey are flying back. The organism can split into segments under a main central nervous system's control. Sharkey smiles, "At least it's not on Seaview."Crane wants to make it easier for Nelson and Sharkey to be taken over. If they don't know what hits them, it will be less painful. Chip objects to this but Crane tells him he is still in command. The thing moves onto conning table. Nelson returns and wonders why Seaview is only going 12 knots since the carrier is going at 27. Crane lies about why. Sharkey and Nelson go to the missile room to check out the instruments. Condensers and heat exchangers are fine. The thing grows quietly out of hiding and then is seen. Nelson hits an alarm and in an alarming scene, no one responds to his alarm--the men just stand around. Eerie. The old man is in the radio room. Nelson uses a torch on the thing; Sharkey opens a hatch and goes; Nelson shoves the torch at it and follows. Crane hopes they didn't fight it like he did. The two rush down the circle ladder to the control room and get rifles. Nelson gives one to Crane and leads them all to the missile room. No one listens to Sharkey's commands until Crane tells them to. The search for the beast is futile. When they rendezvous, Nelson intends to take the ship apart. The Seaview pilot doesn't answer Nelson who finds out they are moving away from the carrier. Nelson yells, "How dare you disobey my orders!"Crane tells him he tried to make it easy for him and then acknowledges the monster, which is in full form in the control room nose! Nelson tells Sharkey what Crane is babbling about, "He means that thing has taken them over. That's what's wrong with everyone on this ship!"Duh. Crane goes on, "We're all one Admiral. Eventually everyone in the world will be part of one great organism."Nelson says, "You mean slaves to that?"Crane says, "Yes,"then orders the others to, "Take them!"

Act Four

The two get away, Crane ordering them to be killed. Nelson fires a fire hose at two crewmen who gave chase; then on two others. The thing blocks the twosome. They go to the galley and climb out through the air vent, Nelson firing off his rifle through the vent in the exit door first. Crane orders men at all vent exits. Sharkey and Nelson exit into Nelson's lab, locking them out. They must stop the thing before it reaches Santa Barbara...and the world. Sharkey asks how...nothing seems to stop it. Nelson figures it must have a brain and when Sharkey asks, "Like us?"he tells the Chief probably not but it must be something like us and electrical. Sharkey wouldn't want to be caught in with it but Nelson says, "Maybe I would."Chip sends teams to ducts. Nelson rigs up 10,000 volts and insulation under his shirt. Sharkey will keep the current going until the monster is dead. Before they start out, Sharkey has to shoot a crewman out of the ducts using another fire hose. The monster crashes right through the lab wall!

Tag

Crane and Chip come in to the lab. Nelson tells them he is tired of fighting and walks into it, yelling to Sharkey, "Now!"Sharkey, despite Chip's trying to hold him back from it, presses the control button on the rigged wiring. Everyone falls and the thing dies. Crane comes to in Nelson's cabin. Nelson tells him it had a different chemistry from people on Earth. It planted electrical impulses into the victims' brains to control them. HEY, WAIT---DIDN'T THE CARRIER HURON HAVE A SAMPLE OF THE MONSTER...IT STILL WAITS....

NOTES: As bad as this sounds and as bad as its reputation is, this is not all that bad. There are some pretty chilling sequences and the landing on the carrier was an added bonus used with stock footage of landing on a carrier and some interesting shots of the Flying Sub from within and without. The monster is kind of goofy looking but there is something disturbing about it...never liked blobs...too frightening especially the original BLOB. This one set a trend of monsters from outer space taking over one or almost all of the crewmen or even making everyone on the sub vanish. A trend which produced some awful episodes such as DOOMSDAY ISLAND and DEADLY CLOUD, two of the worst. Certainly more would have been expected from William Reed Woodfield. Several episodes, mostly revolving (literally) around monsters, set the stage for sequels to appear. While this mostly happened in the third season, MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE, left one sample of the monster on the carrier...didn't Nelson realize this.